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Adding Machines

Stylus-Operated Adding Machines

In 1642, while he was still a teenager, the Frenchman Blaise Pascal invented one of the first machines that could add automatically. Numbers were entered by rotating wheels with a pointed rod or stylus. Carrying took place through the fall of a weight. Some fifty copies of Pascal’s machine were made in his lifetime, mainly for the cabinets of curiosity of well-to-do nobles. In the eighteenth century, similar machines were made, such as one build by Jean Lepine, clockmaker and mechanician to French King Louis XV. In Lepine’s elegant brass machine, carrying took place through the flex of a spring, not the fall of a weight.

In the second half of the 19th century, a variety of much humbler stylus-operated adding machines were patented in the United States. At least three of them went on the market. Two, based on inventions of John Groesbeck and of A. M. Stephenson, had modest sales. The third, invented by journalist Charles H. Webb and sold as the Webb adder, was a sufficient commercial success to boast distinct models, patented in 1868 and 1889.

A.M. Stephenson described a small adding machine with several dials, but only sold one that handled two digits. In the 1840s the Frenchman Didier Roth had designed an improved stylus-operated adding machine that was small and light weight, but had several dials. Roth did not sell his machines successfully, but in the early 20th century such instruments became quite common. One of the first to sell widely in the U.S. was the Calcumeter, patented by James J. Walsh of New Jersey in 1901. Similar instruments, made from metal or later plastic, would sell into the 1970s.

Other small adding machines had parallel rods or chains that moved either crosswise or from top to bottom. Some of these looked quite a bit like contemporary adders, although they had a mechanical carry.

As a youth, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was asked to assist his father in calculations relating to tax returns. Pascal, a future mathematician and natural philosopher, decided that addition and subtraction could be done more easily by machine. The French teenager invented one of the first mechanical adding machines. This is a replica of two counting units in a Pascal adding machine.

The model has a brass mechanism, paper number labels, and a transparent plastic case. It shows the two highest counting units of a Pascal adding machine. Two wheels at the front are for entering digits. They both link to horizontal cog wheels with pins protruding from them. These wheels, in turn, are linked to vertical cog wheels that drive the result drums at the back. The vertical wheels are also linked so that as the wheel on the right advances, a weight linked to the other wheel rises. Once the right wheel has been turned a full circle (entering 10), the weight falls and advances the left wheel by one unit, carrying a digit. Nines complements are marked around the result dials for use in subtraction.

Pascal and his associates made about fifty adding machines in the course of his life, but they never became a practical product. This replica was made for the Smithsonian in 1964.

In the 17th century, the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal built a machine that could be used to add numbers by the rotation of discs with a stylus. Pascal and his associates made several copies of this machine, but it never became a commercial product. In 1725 Jean Lepine, the watchmaker and mechanic for King Louis XV of France, built this stylus-operated adding machine in the tradition of Pascal. However, in Lepine’s machine, carrying took place through the flex of a spring and not, as in Pascal’s device, through the fall of a weight.

The brass instrument fits in a leather-covered wooden case. There are five rows of circles, with ten circles to a row. A window at the top of each circle shows a digit on a disc below. In the first and fourth row there are ten discs on the front of the machine, each with ten indentations in it. The indentations are numbered clockwise 0 to 9. In these rows, there is a stop at the bottom of each disc. All five rows of circles also have a circle of numbers ranging from 1 to 9. In the first and fourth row, these numbers are outside the discs with indentations in them and run counterclockwise, and one digit is not indicated (usually 5, though it may be 10 or 6 - in place of this digit there is an opening in the circle). In the other rows, the digits in the circles run clockwise. In the leftmost column of circles (labeled “Deniers”) numbers on the circles and discs run 1 to 11. The column one in from this (labeled “Sols” ) has numbers from 1 to 19. In each of the circles of numbers without discs, there is a pointer that points to the digit on the circle that is shown in the window. A stylus fits in the right side of the case.

The underlying discs of the top two rows of circles are linked. These circles are used in addition and multiplication. The underlying discs of the bottom three rows of circles are linked. These circles are used in subtraction and division. The underlying discs in each row have pinholes indicating their position. These pinholes are visible if the machine is removed from the case and inverted. A brass plate in the lid of the case has a multiplication table for the numbers 1 to 9. Openings in the plate reveal two rotating brass plates which give multiples of unit prices.

This U.S. Patent Office model for a finger-operated adding machine has four metal wheels set flat into a wooden case with a metal top (the fifth wheel is missing). Around the top edge of each wheel are ten short pins labeled clockwise from 0 to 9. Above each wheel is a round opening in the case. The edge of this opening is also labeled clockwise from 0 to 9. The mechanism linking the wheels is out of order. The patent tag is tied to the machine. It reads: 24.990 (/) J.T. Campbell (/) Adding Mch. (/) Patented August 9, (/) 1859.

John T. Campbell also took out patents for an "Improvement in Portable Fence," U.S. Patent 63,853, April 16, 1867; an “Improvement in Lifting-Tongs,” U.S. Patent 130,194, May 1, 1877; and a 'Revolving Cultivator," U.S. Patent 329137, October 27, 1885.

According to U.S. Census records and a biographical account, Campbell was born in 1833. Raised near a saw mill in Parke County, Indiana, he worked variously as a carpenter, a surveyor and engineer, and a hotelkeeper. During the Civil War, he organized an infantry regiment to fight for the Northern cause. Captain Campbell was disabled by a war wound. On his return, he obtained various local and state offices. By 1880 he had moved to Indianapolis, where he worked briefly as a clerk in the Indiana State Bureau of Statistics. He then retired to Parke County.

This U.S. Patent Office model has five continuous metal bands that move in slots across a wooden frame. Flat pieces of brass cover the top of the frame on the right and the left, keeping the bands in their slots. The bands are made up of small flat squares of metal, with nine squares silver-colored and the tenth one brass. Each square has a hole at the center for a stylus. Strips of paper attached between the bands have the numbers from 1 to 9. Moving a band to the right turns a wheel clockwise. The edge of this wheel, which is covered around the edge with a paper marked with the digits from 0 to 9, is visible through a window in the right piece of brass. The number shown increases as the wheel turns. A lever on the left side disengages the fourth and fifth columns. According to the patent description, there is a carry mechanism activated when a wheel passes 9.

The machine is marked on the left top: Computing (/) Machine (/) A.W. Davies.

Cleveland city directories list an Alexander W. Davies who worked off and on as a clerk, car agent, and accountant for several railroads between 1863 and 1900. It is probable that he took out two patents in 1891 for inventions relating to recording the mileage traveled by railroad cars. Railroad companies would soon become major users of business machines, including IBM tabulating equipment.

The base of this U.S. Patent Office model for a circular stylus-operated adding machine is a wooden paddle. The outer edge of the paddle is divided clockwise into 100 parts, which are marked in ink. Five concentric metal discs are atop the paddle, each one slightly smaller than the one below. The discs are held together at the middle by a screw. The first disc above the paddle has 100 holes around the edge and rotates. The second disc is fixed, with the numbers from 1 to 97 marked in pen counterclockwise around the edge (a few higher digits are hidden). The third disc is toothed, and has the numbers from 1 to 100 around its edge, inside the teeth. The fourth disc covers the third one, with one notch that reveals a number on the toothed disc. The fourth disc also has 100 holes around its edge. Just inside these holes is the fifth, top disc. It also is divided into 100 parts around the edge. These are marked in pen from 1 to 50 going counterclockwise on the right side, and from 1 to 47 going clockwise around the left side (a few divisions are unmarked). The first disc is intended to represent sums of numbers up to 100 (cents), and to carry a term to advance the third disc, which represents hundreds (dollars). The smallest disc can be used as a guide in adding or subtracting hundreds.

The machine is stamped on the front: T.T.STRODE. It has a tag nailed to the back that reads: T.T. Strode (/) Calculating Machine (/) Recd May 4 1867. Thomas T. Strode of Chester County in eastern Pennsylvania took out several patents in the second half of the nineteenth century for inventions ranging from a machine to boring holes in posts to a grain winnower and weigher to calendar-clocks. He apparently worked as a farmer and a merchant.

This stylus-operated non-printing adding machine has two brass wheels, one considerably smaller than the other. It sits in a wooden frame. The large wheel adds sums up to 99, and the smaller one is for hundreds and thousands. The numbers 00 to 99 are stamped evenly counterclockwise around the edge of the larger wheel (these numbers are covered by the plate). Inside these is a circle with 100 holes. Inside the holes is a second set of numbers from 0 to 99, displaced by 180 degrees from the first set. The smaller wheel has the numbers from 0 to 49 stamped around it in two concentric circles, with a circle of 50 holes in between. It represents hundreds. The nickel-plated brass plate covers the outermost edges of both wheels, and is screwed to the frame. Over the edge of the larger wheel, the rim of the plate is divided counterclockwise from 0 to 99. Over the smaller wheel, the edge of the plate has marked divisions from 0 to 9. The result appears in a window between the two wheels, and may be as large as 4999. There is a hook at the left side of the instrument that could be used to suspend it.

The instrument is marked on the front: C.H.WEBB. N.Y. It is also marked there: THE ADDER PATD MARCH 10TH 1868. It has serial number A 5353 stamped on the back. The device was given to the Smithsonian in 1956 by Rudolf Schneider of Washington, D.C. A mark on the back reads: R. Schneider (/) 1885.

Charles Henry Webb (1834-1905) was a journalist, playwright, poet, and roamer. He patented a second version of this device in 1889. Rudolf Schneider (1865-1956), the donor of the object, was a German-born mechanic who came to the United States in 1882. From 1885 he worked for the D. Ballauf Manufacturing Company of Washington, D.C. Schneider became owner of the company in 1914 after the death of Mr. Ballauf. In 1944, he sold the firm to two employees, but continued to use a desk and experimental workshop. He gave the Webb adder to the Smithsonian Institution in the year of his death.

This two-wheeled stylus-operated non-printing adding machine is in a wooden frame. The large brass wheel has a ring of holes and the numbers 00 to 99 stamped around the edge. The numbers 0 to 99 also are stamped around the window for the larger wheel. Numbers are added by rotation of the wheels. Answers are recorded on a pedometer-like dial that has separate windows for ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. The frame is screwed to the cover plate. There is a stylus. The large wheel is marked: C.H.WEBB. N.Y. It is also marked: “THE ADDER" PATD MARCH 10TH 1868. The back has the serial number: C1053. The dial is a modification of the instrument. It is marked on paper attached over the small wheel: N.Y.STANDARD WATCH COMPANY.

Charles Henry Webb (1834-1905) was a journalist, playwright, poet, and roamer. He patented a second version of this device in 1889. This example was owned by the Draper family of New York.

This stylus-operated non-printing flat adding machine has five cogged, linked wheels. Five windows at the bottom show sums of numbers entered. Five windows at the top show complementary digits and are used in subtraction. The outer casing of the instrument is nickel-plated brass, the mechanism is brass. The device lacks a stylus. It is marked: GROESBECK’S CALCULATING MACHINE (/) PATENTED MAR. 18 1870. It is also marked: ZIEGLER & McCURDY (/) PHILAPA.CINN.O.CHICAGO,ILL. (/) ST.LOUIS,MO.SPRINGFIELD,MASS.

This machine is the invention of John Groesbeck (1834-1884), a consulting accountant, operator of the Crittenden Commercial College in Philadelphia, and author of several textbooks on commercial arithmetic. It apparently was his only invention. According to a review in the Philadelphia School Journal, it sold for $6.00 in 1871. The firm of Ziegler & McCurdy dissolved in 1872, suggesting that this object was made quite near the time of the patent. It was given to the Smithsonian in 1944 as a gift of Lt. John P. Roberts of the U.S. Naval Reserve.

References:

John Groesbeck, “Improvement in Adding-Machines," U.S. Patent 100,288, March 1, 1870.

This shield-shaped brass instrument has an inset rotating disc with 100 holes numbered clockwise around the edge. The outside of the disc also has 100 numbered divisions. A piece of the outer shield curves in across the disc to the center and serves as a stop in addition. Above the disc are three smaller wheels on top of the shield. The wheel on the right is numbered counterclockwise from 0 to 9 and labeled: 100 1000. The wheel in the middle is numbered clockwise from 0 to 9 and labeled: 1000 10,000. The leftmost wheel is numbered clockwise by tens from 0 to ten and labeled: 10,000 100,000. There is a pointer for each wheel. Rotating the large disc through 100 causes the “100 1000” disc to rotate one unit (as presently arranged, the reading on the wheel decreases by one unit). The small wheels also may be rotated separately, although the carry to higher places does not seem to work properly.

Reference:

Gustavus Linderoos, “Improvement in Adding-Machines,” U.S. Patent No. 140,146, June 24, 1873. At this time, Linderoos was a resident of Point Arena, California.

This U.S. Patent Office model for a stylus-operated non-printing adding machine has a rectangular wooden base. Four adjacent rotating wheels are inset in the base, with a metal cover that fits over them. The three small wheels on the right each have a metal arm pivoted at their centers and ten evenly spaced indentations around the edge. The digits from 0 to 9 are marked on the cover just outside each of these wheels. The numbers increase counterclockwise going around the first and third wheels and clockwise going around the second wheel. The two middle wheels also have ten pins arranged just inside the indentations. The pins of one wheel are linked to the arm of the wheel to the right of it. The fourth, leftmost, wheel is larger and has 20 indentations and 20 pins. The indentations are numbered from 0 to 19 going counterclockwise. A two-wheeled device was manufactured under this patent.